DEMCARES Internship Guidelines
Guidelines for Internship at DEMCARES (Dementia Care in SCARF)
1. Eligibility Criteria:
● Only Postgraduate (PG) students are eligible for the internship.
● Interns must be from a relevant background such as Psychology, Social Work, Physiotherapy, or Occupational Therapy.
2. Application Process:
● Students requesting for an internship can send a mail to scarfinternship@scarfindia.org
● Applicants must submit a letter from their college requesting internship placement at DEMCARES.
3. Duration and Timings:
● Internship timings are generally from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday to Saturday.
● The second Saturday of the month is a holiday and all government holidays.
● The holidays list is available in the SCARF office
4. Conduct and Professionalism:
● Interns must maintain confidentiality regarding all patient-related information.
● Please do not post any information that might breach patient confidentiality in social media
● They are expected to behave in a professional manner, including appropriate attire and respectful interaction with all staff, patients and caregivers
● Use of mobile phones during work hours should be restricted to breaks or emergencies.
5. Learning and Participation:
● A structured curriculum is provided for interns, and they are expected to adhere to the
scheduled plan.
● Interns will be part of a planned agenda involving learning and observation activities at both Centre for Active Aging (CAA-SCARF) and Sri T S Santhanam Centre for Elderly Care (TSS-Tambaram). Once the schedule is shared, interns must follow it strictly.
6. Documentation and Supervision:
● Interns are required to maintain a logbook documenting their daily learning.
● Supervision will be provided by a designated mentor, and feedback will be shared periodically.
DEMCARES Internship Curriculum (1 Week)
- Overview of DSM-5: Dementia, Depression, Psychosis in Elderly
- Inpatient facility orientation
-Observation of patients
- Orientation to working with elderly
- File reading and case familiarization
- Administer Case History, MSE, MoCA, IADL/BADL
- Engage patients in planned activities
- Learn and practice: GDS, VSID, BPRS,HADS
- Include activity name, targeted domains, rationale
- Participate in group activities with elderly
- Read one recent article/experiment on Dementia, Depression, or Psychosis in elderly
- Observe patients
- Learn MoCA, IADL, BADL assessments
- Administer assessments and record findings
-Document in psychological record sheet
-Practice clinical scales
DEMCARES Internship Curriculum (1 MONTH)
- Overview of DSM-5: Dementia, Depression,Psychosis,Other Geriatric Mental Health Disorders
- Basics of Neuroanatomy & Cognitive Functions
- Daily article reading & short presentation (1 per topic/day)
Introduction to non-pharmacological interventions
- Report writing
- Assign 2 patients per intern- Plan and engage patients in cognitive/functional activities
- Facilitate one CST group session under supervision at TSS
- Reflective discussions and feedback
-Participate in theory sessions
- Write sample reports
- Maintain psychological records
- Implement activities
- Maintain records and practice tools with patients
- Conduct supervised CST group
- Submit final documentation and receive evaluation
- Develop literature review and presentation skills
- Understand intervention planning
- Develop documentation skills
Apply person-centered activity planning
- Build therapeutic engagement
- Gain experience in group therapy facilitation